The Encounter
by Tryfing
Summary: Jesse commits scuicide years after Leslies death, but God gives him another chance. Will he be able to right a wrong?
1. The Encounter

Jesses lifeless body hung in the water. He was 13, and never really got over Leslie's death, and what was more, after a year, they had moved away, so he never managed to return to Terabithia, and all Leslie created, fell to ruin. Now he ran away from home, and after little thought, took his own life in the river, that had so mercilessly took Leslie's aswell.

Everything went dark. Time stood still. For days uncounted it stood still. In such a place there was no existence, no time, no emotion, no sense, absolutely nothing.

Then suddenly, Jesse heard a drop, a single drop, onto water it seemed.

Jesse's eyes shot open. There was darkness all about him, with the exception of two torches on the walls. He seemed to be in a great arch or hall of some sort. He was on one side, and on the other, was a great oaken door, tall and strong. Betwixt him and the oaken doors, was a man. He was clad in some strange garb. The man had light brown skin, and a white beard and hair, that showed traces of black.

"Hello." said the man in a kindly, voice.

"Hi..." said Jesse, quite shocked, and he had every right to be, for he had every memory afore his coming to the halls.

"You had a live unspent ahead of you, why did you, then, so knowingly take this gift which I gave you, son?" he said.

Jesse's eyes widened, and he swayed. "t-To see Leslie, is she here, sir?"

"Very foolish of you, Leslie is here, and there, and everywhere else for that matter. But that was a brave thing to do all the same, Jesse." said God.

Anger and sadness swelled up inside him. He forgot about hell and the rest of it, _to hell with it_! He thought.

"Why'd she have to die! Why did she have to go. What did she ever do? Leslie was an angel! Just because she didn't believe in you!?" he shouted through his sobs. Jesse swayed slightly. He sank to the ground, leaning against the wall of the hall.

God crouched and comforted him, like a father to his son. "That girl has changed you, you weren't n like this before, when I choose your nature. But death, I never wanted death, but he had to stay, because to strip someone of his doom, that luxury I got rid of long ago, for balance sake. She did not go to hell, and neither wilt you, Jesse."

Jesse looked up. "Then what will happen to us, will we go to heaven, or back to earth, or somewhere else."

The Lord pondered for a second, then said "Yea, I think so. But there is a test you must pass. You will arrive asleep, on the day Leslie died. You will have the same choice, and even so, you will still have a way to go. If you make the right choices, and with a little speed, you may save her, and your life will continue in a different strip of woven time. If not, you will have to live the rest of your life, in guilt and sadness for failing a second 't worry though! You will have a faint memory in your head. And yes, Jesse, Leslie was an angel. Walk through those doors and it will all begin."

And they got up, Jesse wiped his face of tears, and walked slowly towards the oaken doors, scared in every step. Before turning in, he asked "Was Terabithia real, or just imagination."

"Oh, it was imagination, and love. But why on earth should that mean it's not real?"


	2. Another Chance

**Another Chance**

A flash of white light. Jesse felt the pillow beneath his head, his blankets kicked off. He got up, and picked up his sketchbook. He began to illustrate Terabithia. He heard the faint ringing of the phone.

"Jesse!" screamed Maybelle. He yelled back;

"Yeah?"

Maybelle ran up the stairs. She entered the room with her hand on the speaker. "Jesse, here, it's your girlfriend." she said smiling cheekily.

"oh, shut up. She's not my girlfriend" said Jesse and answered "Hello?"

"Hey, Jesse, it's me." said the voice.

"Oh hi Miss Edmunds, good morning,"

"Good morning Jesse, hey look, I have 2 tickets for me and my niece for the Natural History Museum in Washington, but my niece had to drop out, you want to come with me?" she said.

Jesse was gob smacked. He stood stock still. He said "Ye-" then he stopped. He had a deja vu. And he had a bad feeling about it.

"What's that Jesse?" said Miss Edmunds.

Without knowing it, Jesse replied "No thanks Miss Edmunds, I have to meet a friend today, sorry"

"Oh well that's pity, well, see you Jesse, have fun." she said.

"Bye Miss Edmunds," he said and hung up.

He felt better, oddly enough. The deja vu was so realistic, and his every instinct told him to say no. So he sat there, scribbling at the paper. He drew all sorts of creatures. And lastly, he drew a picture of Leslie. When he was done, he looked at it. It wasn't all that good, but he was just 11, it was pretty good for his age.

When the clock above his head hit 11:07 the bell rang. He didn't really heed it, just felt like he wanted to sit there and think things over. He heard the padding of footsteps of the carped covered stairs. Then he heard a knock on his door. "Come in," he said.

It was Leslie. She entered the room smiling, rocking her golden heat to and fro. "Hey, sorry did I wake you up?" she said.

"Nah, hey, good morning." he said smiling.

"Well its a nice spring, Saturday morning, you want to go to Terabithia with me?" she said smiling.

"Yeah sure, but hey Leslie, just come sit down for a moment." she obliged and sat on the bed. Then he recounted what happened earlier, and his sense of unease and deja vu. She listened contently, at first she thought it a good story or adventure in Terabithia, but as he went on, she began to take it seriously.

"Well we'll just have to be careful, now come on, dress up, have breakfast and lets go!" she said and got up. Jesse dressed up and ran down to find his mum feeding his baby sister and his father reading the paper.

"I'm gone, see you." he said snatching a piece of toast.

"Bye." said Leslie and they left the house with P.T following as always.

Once out of view of the house they began to run. Trees on either side of the lane whizzed past, their green leaves tingling in the breeze. It felt good to run again, they felt the fresh air in their hair, the kindly sunlight in their face. They left the road and entered the fields. The golden wheat fields now growing again whizzed past as they descended into the lower areas, and finally they entered the edge of the green woods. The air had gotten warmer.

They walked, but seldom talked, for Jesse was troubled. Every moment, his subconscious mind was putting together the puzzle, and in his conscious mind, and Jesse was beginning to realize what was going on, but he could not place his finger on the matter. They reached the river bank, at the edge of the drop. It had swollen up greatly.

The split second he looked at the river everything fell into place, he knew of his former self. Leslie began to search for a stick for which to pull the rope.

"Leslie! Wait Leslie!" he said.

"Jesse calm down, what's the problem?" she said.

Jesse was so frustrated, if he let slip of his former self, about his knowledge of what was to come, it would be too far fetched, even for Leslie to believe him, and then she might even not bother listening to him and attempt to swing across.

She grabbed a stick and walked balanced to the edge of the bank.

P.T, being a smart dog, had assessed the situation, and had a glimpse of what Jesse was going on about, similar to the way dogs react before the onset of an earthquake.

"Leslie don't swing, I swear Leslie the rope _will _break." he said. He was so angry, frantic and confused at the same time, not knowing what to do. "Please, just listen to me Leslie." he said.

"What are you talking about, Jesse." she said, her smile started to fade. She walked to him without letting the rope go. "Nothing is going to happen to me," she said and hugged him. He knew what was going to happen, and could not hold back his tears. He sobbed, and begged her to stop. ",trust me, I'm going to be fine." she walked up to the edge of the bank, the very edge.

P.T stood in her way, and barked frantically, even the dog could sense the undeniable of scent of death being near, somewhere in the shadows, lurking.

"Not you too, P.T" she said looking worried. She looked at Jesse, and for along time they stood there, looking into each others eyes. Jesse walked forward and hugged her. What happened next, the horror that Jesse beheld, came almost slowly. The rope, being now stretched, but not quite relied upon fully, snapped.

And because the dirt, being weakened by water could not support Leslie at such a sloping angle, gave away. Jesse and Leslie fell to the rushing waters of the river. Leslie fell in first and hit her head, and past out of conscience. Jesse felt a sharp pain on his leg, and being next to her had clung to a root, and was clinging for both his life, and the life of the person that meant the most for him with one hand, for he was stopping Leslie from drifting away. In his struggle, he looked up, and P.T was not to be found. When he looked again to the other bank of the river, to the edge of Terabithia, He saw it, faintly, death.

It stood there, as a shadow, angered, but hopeful. Merciless, untimely, it stood there, robbed of his prize. Jesse looked at it defiantly, faint as it was, and gripped the great protruding root even more. He pulled Leslie higher out so that she could breathe. But his right arm could not bear the force of the current, and the weight of Leslie and himself.

He gritted his teeth, in sad determination locked his arm. He was fighting a loosing battle, and he started to cry. He screamed and pulled with and brought them both to their torsoes. His arm hurt badly.

Leslie began to slip out of his hand. He held her tight. The situation was bad. He had to cling for both their lives in both hands, if his right let go, they would both plunge into the murky deeps, and yet was not strong enough, for his other was holding Leslie from imminent death. He could not hold much longer.

Just then he felt himself clutched and yanked by the shoulder. His father, and Leslie's father was there.

His father pulled them straight out. And put them on the ground. Jesse had only he strength to look left. Leslie's golden head was covered in scarlet blood. But she had colour still left in her beautiful face. He turned towards Terabithia, Death still stood, furious and hopeless at the theft of its prize, gripping ts scythe with bloody hand, but was blocked by P.T when he came to lick Jesse's face. He faintly said "Good boy P.T" and patted him with his left hand, for he had brought Jesse's father.

When his father saw that Jesse was conscious, let alone alive, he came next to him.

"What the hell were you two thinking?" he said.

"The ground gave away, I had to cling for both our lives." said Jesse. Every bone in his body ached, his heart pounded, and felt as if it was out of sync. He felt light. He, with the help of his dad, Jesse got to the car. Once the car began to move, Jesses' dad said "The Hospital is in town, not far off." and stepped on it. Jesse sat, and was lost in thought. He was sorrowful. Leslie's golden head rested on his shoulder. Had he failed again, despite all the pain, fear, anger, and all the determination, had he failed to save the one he cared most for. And with that fainted.

***

When he got up, he was in a bed. His arm felt numb, but not broken. His dad was sitting by him.

"How are ya?" he said, deeply concerned.

"Fine, well not really, what's up with my arm?" he asked.

"Your leg is badly bruised, and your ligaments were near torn, but I gotta admit son, that was one hell of a pull, by the looks of it," then he changed his tone ", but frankly, a very stupid situation you got yerself into, how in God's name did ya get there in the first place?" he asked.

"Look dad, we were talking, I told her the rope would probably break, and then the ground gave away and I fell with her, I held the root and just...yeah." he trailed off. "How's Leslie?" he asked

The look on his dad's was grave as he spoke. "She hit her head, they say the worst damage was the basic cracking of her head, nothing mental or physical, except for the crack. They need to fix it...look I don't know, I ain't a doctor, all I know it that her chances of survival are fifty fifty."

With that Jesse lay down again, and was lost in worry and thought.

**Now after this point, you make it up for yourself. _If_ you want it to stick to the main story, where Leslie so sadly dies, then be my guest, that's the ending. The ending I leave out for a wide audience so that people can fit their own ending in.**

**If you want Leslie to survive then that also works, kindly do not post any endings for then it will seem like it has a clear cut ending, and that sorta defeats the purpose. =)**

**(By the way, in my interpretation, Leslie lives, cuz I love her and she's too cool to stay down.)**

**By Tryfing.**


End file.
